


Variation 5

by seekingferret



Series: The Jessica Goldberg Variations [6]
Category: Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 10:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3566210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekingferret/pseuds/seekingferret
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where she doesn't run away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Variation 5

It was simultaneously a catastrophe and the best thing that could have happened to her.

The night before Jessica is due to escape with Lorenzo, her father announces her engagement to the Rabbi's son, Eliyahu. Suddenly she is surrounded by people. Aunts she barely remembers take up residence in her house to prepare her for the wedding, which is scheduled for a week. Never let it be said that Shylock is a fool. The timing is not a coincidence, even though he does not say a word to her about her Christian lover. He knows she knows he knows. They are a clever family.

Her shomrim are diligent. Blood appears on the sheet, from where she knows not, and her bridegroom knows better than to ask. Her wedding night is surprisingly tolerable. She weeps with sorrow and pleasure through the whole night, and her new mother-in-law assures her that this is normal. [It is simultaneously a catastrophe and the best thing that could have happened to her.] A part of her dies that night, but it is a littler part than she had believed it would be. Her weeping is over by the third night of blessings.

She never sees Lorenzo again, but she hears some years later from a gossipy neighbor that he took up a nautical life. She tries to imagine being a sailor's wife, but she cannot quite see it.

Her first daughter is named Leah, after her mother. [Her second is named Rachel, proving her husband has a sense of humor.] She is terrified by the prospect of daughters, but just when she is reaching a state of full-blown panic, her father arrives to sing Leah to sleep with the same songs he once sung to her. This would not have happened if she'd married Lorenzo, she realizes, as she watches her daughter burble in delight in her grandfather's arms. She reaches peace with the generations as she takes her first nap as a mother.

[Shylock's situation with Antonio progresses about as poorly as could be expected. He serves the merchant for eight years before Christian mercy prevails and Antonio admits that Shylock would make a better business partner than serving boy. After eight years, he returns to the Jewish quarter and takes up residence in his daughter's increasingly-crowded house.]

Eliyahu wants to name their third daughter Bilhah, but Jessica prevails and she is named D'vorah instead. This is when Shylock begins joking about the curse of daughters. She could be offended, rise to his taunts, but there is no point. Her father's life has not always been easy, and neither has hers, but they have gotten to this point together, somehow. She cannot forgive him, but at least she can tolerate his jokes.

D'vorah grows up clever, like her namesake. Dangerously clever, like her namesake. There are moments when Jessica fears she will turn out as Jessica did, a midnight salvation away from throwing away her life for a boy's smile. When her fears overwhelm her, she turns to her father, who is always there when she needs him. He does not reassure her that D'vorah and Rachel and Leah will always be safe. He just reassures her that the Lord will be watching over all of them.


End file.
